Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jan 5;113(1):176-81.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1510383112. Epub 2015 Dec 22.

High risk of near-crash driving events following night-shift work

Michael L Lee  1 , Mark E Howard  2 , William J Horrey  3 , Yulan Liang  3 , Clare Anderson  4 , Michael S Shreeve  5 , Conor S O'Brien  5 , Charles A Czeisler  6
Affiliations

High risk of near-crash driving events following night-shift work

Michael L Lee et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Night-shift workers are at high risk of drowsiness-related motor vehicle crashes as a result of circadian disruption and sleep restriction. However, the impact of actual night-shift work on measures of drowsiness and driving performance while operating a real motor vehicle remains unknown. Sixteen night-shift workers completed two 2-h daytime driving sessions on a closed driving track at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety: (i) a postsleep baseline driving session after an average of 7.6 ± 2.4 h sleep the previous night with no night-shift work, and (ii) a postnight-shift driving session following night-shift work. Physiological measures of drowsiness were collected, including infrared reflectance oculography, electroencephalography, and electrooculography. Driving performance measures included lane excursions, near-crash events, and drives terminated because of failure to maintain control of the vehicle. Eleven near-crashes occurred in 6 of 16 postnight-shift drives (37.5%), and 7 of 16 postnight-shift drives (43.8%) were terminated early for safety reasons, compared with zero near-crashes or early drive terminations during 16 postsleep drives (Fishers exact: P = 0.0088 and P = 0.0034, respectively). Participants had a significantly higher rate of lane excursions, average Johns Drowsiness Scale, blink duration, and number of slow eye movements during postnight-shift drives compared with postsleep drives (3.09/min vs. 1.49/min; 1.71 vs. 0.97; 125 ms vs. 100 ms; 35.8 vs. 19.1; respectively, P < 0.05 for all). Night-shift work increases driver drowsiness, degrading driving performance and increasing the risk of near-crash drive events. With more than 9.5 million Americans working overnight or rotating shifts and one-third of United States commutes exceeding 30 min, these results have implications for traffic and occupational safety.

Keywords: EEG; drowsy driving; fatigue; infrared oculography; sleep.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: C.A.C. has received consulting fees from or served as a paid member of scientific advisory boards for: Amazon.com, Inc.; A2Z Development Center, Inc.; Bose Corporation; Boston Red Sox; Cleveland Browns; Institute of Digital Media and Child Development; Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Merck Sharpe and Dohme; Purdue Pharma; Quest Diagnostics; Samsung Electronics; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.; Koninklijke Philips Electronics, N.V.; Novartis; and Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. C.A.C. owns an equity interest in Somnus Therapeutics, Inc. and Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and has received research/education support from Mary Ann and Stanley Snider through Combined Jewish Philanthropies, National Football League Charities, Optum, ResMed, Philips Respironics, the San Francisco Bar Pilots, Simmons, Schneider, Inc., and Sysco. C.A.C. has received royalties from McGraw Hill, Penguin Press/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and from Philips Respironics, Inc., for the Actiwatch 2 and Actiwatch Spectrum devices; C.A.C.’s interests were reviewed and are managed by Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Partners HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. The Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine and the Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, which C.A.C. directs, have received unrestricted research and educational gifts and endowment funds from: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; GlaxoSmithKline; Jazz Pharmaceuticals; Merck & Co., Inc.; Pfizer; ResMed; Philips Respironics, Inc.; Sanofi-Aventis, Inc.; Sealy, Inc.; Sepracor, Inc.; Simmons, Spring Aire; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; Tempur-Pedic; Walmart; Proctor and Gamble; Optum; Bose; Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and have received Educational Grant funding from Apria Healthcare; Cephalon, Inc.; Jazz Pharmaceuticals; Philips Respironics; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; ResMed Foundation; Sanofi-Aventis, Inc.; Sepracor, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.; and Wake Up Narcolepsy. C.A.C. holds a number of process patents in the field of sleep/circadian rhythms (e.g., photic resetting of the human circadian pacemaker). Since 1985, C.A.C. has also served as an expert witness on various legal cases related to sleep and circadian rhythms, including matters related to Bombardier, Citgo, HG Energy, Michael Jackson’s mother and children, Purdue Pharma, Stric Lan LLC, Valero, and matters related to commercial drivers employed by Celadon, Crete Carrier Corporation, FedEx, United Parcel Service, and other commercial carriers. M.E.H. reports grants from the Institute for Breathing and Sleep, during the conduct of the study; and grants from Resmed Foundation, grants from Edansafe, grants from Prevention Express, and nonfinancial support from Sleep Diagnostics, outside the submitted work. C.A. reports personal fees from Rail, Tram and Bus Union (Australia); grants from VicRoads; personal fees from AusMed; personal fees from Providence Sleep Research Interest Group, Brown University; personal fees from the National Transport Commission; and personal fees from VicPolice, outside the submitted work.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Near-crash driving events and drive terminations occurred only in postnight-shift drives. (Left) Cumulative histogram of 11 near-crash driving events across time since drives began in each condition. (Right) Kaplan–Meier survival curve of the seven drive terminations since drives began in each condition (P = 0.00308). None of the drivers in the postsleep driving sessions had a near-crash driving event or drive termination, whereas 6 of the 16 participants had a near-crash driving event and 7 of the 16 participants had the drive terminated in the postnight-shift driving sessions (P = 0.0088 and P = 0.0034, respectively). Tick marks on both panels indicate driving breaks that occurred every 15 min to complete sleepiness assessment surveys.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Drowsiness progressively increased across driving sessions. Driving performance, ocular, and survey measures of drowsiness are shown by drive condition and drive duration. Mean values with SE bars. For each of these variables except the KSS, there was a significant interaction effect of driving duration (driving block 1–7) by condition (P < 0.05). Condition alone had a significant effect on the KSS (P < 0.05). Tick marks indicate driving breaks, as in Fig. 1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Institute of Medicine . Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies; The National Academies Press; Washington, DC: 2006. - PubMed
    1. Connor J, et al. Driver sleepiness and risk of serious injury to car occupants: Population based case control study. BMJ. 2002;324(7346):1125. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tefft BC. Prevalence of Motor Vehicle Crashes Involving Drowsy Drivers, United States, 2009–2013. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety; Washington, DC: 2014. - PubMed
    1. Dingus TA, et al. The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study; Phase II-Results of the 100-Car Field Experiment. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Washington, DC: 2006. pp. 1–352.
    1. MacLean AW, Davies DR, Thiele K. The hazards and prevention of driving while sleepy. Sleep Med Rev. 2003;7(6):507–521. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources